Prosecutors Slam Butyrka

July 27, 2010

An official inspection has discovered that detention conditions in Moscow’s Butyrskaya pretrial center do not meet the minimal standards prescribed by law, the Prosecutor General’s Office said in a statement Tuesday.

Violations listed in the report include heavy overcrowding, disregard for fire safety rules, insufficient medical help for detainees, and the bad condition of cells, which are insufficiently illuminated and have rotting walls.

Prosecutors have demanded that the prison administration fix the violations, the report said, without specifying a time frame.

The pretrial detention system came under fire after Hermitage Capital lawyer Sergei Magnitsky and businesswoman Vera Trifonova died in pretrial detention after falling ill. Supporters have linked their deaths to poor detention conditions.